Containing Peace Talks

Very heavy work schedule so I’ll leave this for readers to discuss. Moscow and Tskhinvali are getting worried as Saakashvili moves Georgia’s internal conflicts into the international spotlight. Both South Ossetia and Russia are trying hard to contain them, or maintain the current framework but what that really means is clear.

Moscow, Tskhinvali Push to Maintain Existing Peace Format

South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity hailed the current Russian-led peacekeeping and negotiating arrangement for the South Ossetian conflict at an informal meeting with Russian, South Ossetian and North Ossetian negotiators in Tskhinvali on September 17. The three negotiators, along with the Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Merab Antadze, make up the quadripartite Joint Control Commission (JCC), which Tbilisi describes as an “outdated format”Â? that needs to be replaced with a more effective international arrangement.

[...] “We think that the quadripartite format has not exhausted itself in the peace process. It is only necessary to follow already reached agreements to build mutual confidence”¦ No matter what decision is taken [by the Georgian side] in respect to the Russian peacekeeping troops, they will stay in the conflict zone anyway,”Â? Kokoity told Russian, South Ossetian and North Ossetian co-chairman of the JCC, the South Ossetian Press and Information Committee reported on September 17.

Go Georgia!